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My husband was told by his employer that his entire department is being transferred to Stamford, CT. He is in early stages of negotiating his new salary over there and we have to make a decision soon whether to move or not, but we don't have any concrete information on how much would be 'enough' to maintain a similar lifestyle.
We are two adults and two kids, ages 4 and 6, who would be looking to rent.
His office is in Stamford, but we would be willing to move somewhere with a more suburb feel even if it means a bit of a commute for him.
These are the things we would like to have if we move:
Renting a 3 bed/ 2 bath single family home with a garage, ideally in a suburb about 30 min in car to Stamford
A place with great schools
Being able to afford healthy foods when possible, especially organics
Adding to the above transportation costs, utilities which we've heard are very high, and ideally being able to save a bit, how much salary should we be thinking to pull this off?
What towns would be best based on our needs while still being a safe/good neighborhood?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!! Thank you.
The honest truth is that anything 30 min from Stamford with great schools will be extremely expensive. Perhaps he is looking at a large salary and that's no big deal. Could you narrow it down even a little bit? That helps us determine whether places like New Canaan and Darien are options, or a slight tick down to Wilton or Ridgefield, or whether you really need to consider further out. If his job is on the train line, all the better (if he's willing to commute that way). I LOVE it here in the town of Fairfield and it's very family friendly.
Where are you coming from now and at what level is your husband's job? The areas with the best schools are outside of Stamford and can be quite pricey but it's all relative depending on where you're coming from. I imagine the cheapest communities with great schools within a 30 min commute will be Ridgefield/Redding to the north or Fairfield to the east (can be more than 30 mins if the office isn't accessible by public transit alone). For a stab-in-the-dark answer without knowing more, for me personally I wouldn't feel comfortable in that general area without a bare minimum $150k household salary with 2 kids. That's really generalizing, based on my idea of a lifestyle with great schools and organic food, but there you go!
Fairfield is about 30 mins from Stamford without traffic and if you include rush hour you're most likely going to see 50 mins to an hour depending where in Stamford it is. It really depends what town you'd like to live in. Some towns in Fairfield County are more expensive than others. I'd personally recommend either Wilton, Norwalk, or Ridgefield. Id say Ridgefield has one of the best school systems in the area. Stamford schools aren't that great to be honest. The advantage of living in Ridgefield is that you can completely avoid the Interstate 95 madness during rush hour. To answer your question you'd probably need to make a minimum combination of $160,000 to live comfortably with 2 kids. Though it all depends on many things. Property taxes differ so some people could live comfortable making less than that. It's expensive to live here for a reason because it's such a desirable place to live.
Minimum 150K household and that's for the better neighborhoods of Stamford and Norwalk if you want under 30 min commute (which I agree with - quality of life and more time spent with family/kids trumps everything). If you want top rated school districts then go buy a winning powerball ticket.
Your husband's job is being moved to one of the most desirable and expensive areas of the country. Stamford is a small city that is sort of a satellite of New York. The suburbs surrounding Stamford (Greenwich, Darien and New Canaan) are among New York's most desirable suburbs. It is not unusual to pay $1 million for a very modest home. The OP does not say where they are moving from so it is hard to give them a recommended salary. There are online cost-of-living calculators though that should give you a general idea of what to be looking for salary-wise in comparison to his current salary.
The OP also does not give us an idea of their budget for rent so it is hard to make a recommendation. There are many great towns in the area that fit their needs as listed so I will just recommend them sort of in order of ease of commute to Stamford.
1. Greenwich, Darien and New Canaan
2. Wilton
3. Westport, Weston
4. Ridgefield, Redding
5. Fairfield, Easton
6. Bethel, Trumbull, Monroe
The OP should note that the towns toward the top of the list are the most expensive while toward the bottom are a bit more affordable. Also traffic commuting into Stamford by car is brutal so to be within a 30 minute car commute you will likely have to live in Greenwich, Darien or New Canaan or maybe even parts of Wilton. For organic foods there is Whole Foods in Greenwich, Darien, Westport and Fairfield. I am sure though that there are other local stores that carry these as well. Good luck, Jay
My husband was told by his employer that his entire department is being transferred to Stamford, CT. He is in early stages of negotiating his new salary over there and we have to make a decision soon whether to move or not, but we don't have any concrete information on how much would be 'enough' to maintain a similar lifestyle.
We are two adults and two kids, ages 4 and 6, who would be looking to rent.
His office is in Stamford, but we would be willing to move somewhere with a more suburb feel even if it means a bit of a commute for him.
This is a really difficult question. It would help if you tell us where you're moving from. For example, if your moving from a low cost of living area your salary will need to be bumped up significantly, maybe as much as 40%.
We've had people on this forum before who asked the same question only to find out their employer was not offering enough salary to live in Fairfield county CT. My guess would be your employer is NOT going to offer enough money/salary to make the move worth it - otherwise they would have figured out the salaries by now. I would ask what is the CEO's salary bump percentageand ask for the same. (that probably won't go over well though)
IMO if all the stars align and you can use train transport for commuting you would need minimum 100K per year. Most likely that would be renting a 2 bedroom apartment and only 1 car.
As others stated, need more information especially current income. Renting a 3bd, 2ba is ridiculously expensive in most of the "great" school towns listed. Think 4k to 5k a month in Greenwich or Darien. If short term move then try Cranbury section of Norwalk. Good elementary reputation and much more affordable, maybe 3k a month. Lots of stores and easier commute to Stamford too.
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